Delicious bites of Sweet Potato Falafel

August 23, 2014

Ooh our very first foodie post – yay for that! And what’s even more exciting is that this recipe is an update on one of my all-time favourite recipes – sweet potato falafel. I first discovered this falafel at Leon on The Strand, one of the best lunch places, around about four years ago and I was in love. These creamy sweet potato bites were amazing and as my first falafel experience it was a good ‘un. Yes my first falafel experience as back then I didn’t like chickpeas – yes I was weird. I mean really, not liking chickpeas, how is that even a thing?! Anyway I discovered this falafel and made it ALL THE TIME. It was perfect in lunches or as a quick snack dipped into perinaise.

However since that initial discovery I’ve learned to love chickpeas and I’ve had coarser-chickpea-containing falafel and so the time has come to give a new recipe a whirl – something that’s a bit coarser but still keeps the creamy taste of the sweet potatoes. So here’s what you do…

Cook three medium sweet potatoes in the over for 40 minutes until the skin is starting to peel away.

Scoop out the potato innards (should one use the word innards in a recipe post?) and pop them in a bowl with 3 tsps cumin, 3 tsps ground corriander, two cloves of garlic, the juice of half a lemon, 150g of gram or chickpea flour and two tins of chickpeas and blitz them all with a food processor until there are fewer lumps. {personally I like some of the chickpeas to stay whole, but it’s up to you}.

Put the mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours or the freezer for 30 minutes until the mixture firms up

Create balls of the mixture and roll it in a plate of olive oil and then a plate of sesame seeds. Repeat until you have about 30 sweet potato falafel balls.

Put all the balls on an oiled baking tray and bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees celsius

Serve with salad, rice or simply dip into perinaise and enjoy!

*I’ve never had these straight out of the oven but I think next time I make them I’ll try eating them warm with some sort of ratatouille mixture – I think that would make the perfect combo, or even in a warmed pitta bread with salad and mayo…ooh there are just so many options.